金融时报《机器人时代的人类工作》精读

原文链接 http://www.ftchinese.com/story/001070780/ce

How robots make humans indispensable

地道表达

• In recent months, anthropologists have been rummaging through the grassroots of America’s workforce jungle in search of an answer to one of the great questions of our time: what happens to human jobs when robots arrive?

[rummage ] to move things around carelessly while searching for sth翻寻；乱翻；搜寻

Eg. She was rummaging around in her bag for her pen.

• Manufacturing offers a particularly stark example of this.

[stark] unpleasant;real,and impossible to avoid 严酷的；赤裸的；真实而无法回避的 SYN bleak

Eg. A stark choice 残酷的选择

Eg. Stark reality 残酷的现实

Eg. The remains of the building stand as a stark reminder of the fire.房子的断壁残垣是那场大火无情的见证.

• This equates to $2tn in annual wages — and millions of jobs.

[equate to] to be equal to sth else 相当于，等于

Eg. A $2000 raise equates to 75%.

• When he did grassroots analysis he realised that the company was growing so fast, with such big and complex computing systems, that it was constantly drafting more humans — not robots — to monitor, manage and interpret the data.

[grassroots] odinary people in society or in an organization, rather than the leaders or people who make decisions 基层民众；平民百姓；草根

Eg. The grass roots of the party 党的基层成员

Eg. We need support at grass-roots level.

• This is not necessarily a bad thing but it suggests that Mr Trump’s hopes of recreating old-style American jobs is wrong-headed.

[wrong-headed] having or showing bad judgement 判断错误的；执迷不悟的

Eg. Wrong-headed beliefs 错误的信念

• But if he does succeed in this goal of America First he will — paradoxically — only accelerate the automation trend as companies will scramble to cut costs.

[scamble to] to push, fight or compete with others in order to get or reach sth 争抢；抢占；争夺

Eg. Shoppers were scrembling to get the best bargains.

• Hitherto, Silicon Valley has not been particularly vocal on these questions, but Mr Trump seems intent on pulling them into the spotlight。

[be vocal on sth] telling people your opinions or protesting about sth loudly and with confidence 大声表达的；直言不讳的

[be intent on/upon] 1.determined to do sth,especially sth that will harm other people 决心做（尤其伤害他人的事）2.giving all your attention to sth 专心；专注

Eg. They were intent on murder.

Eg. I was so intent on my work so that I did not notice the time.

• Workforce training needs to change to instil more digital skills.

[instill sth in/into sb] to gradually make sb feel,think or behave in a particular way over a period of time 逐步灌输，逐步培养（感受、思想或行为）

Eg. to instil confidence / discipline / fear into sb 逐步使某人树立信心/守纪律/产生恐惧

Eg. A manager's job is to instill determination into his players.

其他表达：

机器/科技/自动化取代人类工作表达：

• digital technologies are performing many jobs once done by humans
• 5.6m US manufacturing jobs were lost thanks to automation
• tasks currently done by humans could be automated
• machines are wiping out some human jobs
• his research would show how machines were replacing human workers
• Software automation can substitute for labour
• the rise of digital teaching tools would make human teachers less important
• computers are automating jobs away
• those jobs were lost to automation

专业知识

• Policy debate 政策辩论

Policy debate is a form of debate competition in which teams of two advocate for and against a resolution that typically calls for policy change by the United States federal government. It is also referred to as cross-examination debate (sometimes shortened to Cross-X, CX, Cross-ex, or C-X) because of the 3-minute questioning period following each constructive speech. Affirmative teams generally present a plan as a proposal for implementation of the resolution.——维基百科

语言分析

• In recent months,anthropologists have been rummaging through the grassroots of America’s workforce jungle in search of an answer to one of the great questions of our time: what happens to human jobs when robots arrive?

[分析] grassroots指的是平民草根，彰显了workforce jungle这个群体的地位，jungle是指植物生长密度大的丛林，用jungle比喻workforce,更加体现了这个劳动大军的基数之大。

• That sounds scary. There is, however,an intriguing twist.

• That more upbeat story tends to be obscured, yet it deserves a great deal more attention.

[分析]第一句承上启下，而且however作为插入语总觉得比放在开头更有一种谜之高级感，看到很多阅读题的题目都这么写，私下揣测这样更地道？第二句that指代次一般就近原则，就是指上句或者上句的某个部分。这段里面的话，就是指上面那句“机灭人工作同时也在人机合作”这种现象。

• Second, if anyone does manage to paint an accurate portrait of that labour force, they need to show this to Mr Trump.

[分析] 隐喻，用paint an accurate portrait比喻obtain much better data这个任务，类似中文中描绘图景这个说法，这句的翻译是“准确描绘”

• But if he does succeed in this goal of America First he will — paradoxically — only accelerate the automation trend ascompanies will scramble to cut costs.

[分析]scramble是争相的意思，让我想到了“天下熙熙，皆为利来。天下攘攘，皆为利往”。

• For one thing, they suggest that there is a burning need for policymakers to obtain much better data on what is really happening in the American workplace.

[分析] burning彰显了一种火烧眉毛、迫在眉睫的急迫感。这一句值得背诵。类似表达a burning issue/question,意为当务之急。

• But if this debate is to secure any serious traction, it is imperative that the technology sector itself steps in. Hitherto, Silicon Valley has not been particularly vocal on these questions, but Mr Trump seems intent on pulling them into the spotlight.

[分析] traction原意是牵引力，这里引申为支持。“step in”，给人以“挺身而出”的感觉，表达了科技行业应该担负责任的意思，“vocal”是发声的和大声表达的意思，表明硅谷不为这个问题发声，即不积极。“pull into spotlight” pull体现了川普要让这些不愿发声的硅谷出力是需要下气力的，即不是件容易的事儿，spotlight十分传神，仿佛全美人民的目光都聚焦在硅谷上，希望他能出力。这和最后一段 Otherwise, the day will come when Silicon Valley itself could find itself being blamed for American job losses遥相呼应。如果硅谷继续默不作声，它就会成为众矢之的。

篇章分析

段落大意

• 第1段：人类学家正在考察劳动力群体，以解答机器人时代来临后人们的就业该何去何从。

• 第2段：令人沮丧的是机器人的确在取代人类完成一些工作。

• 第3段：制造业就是一个典型，另外服务业在将来也会有接近一半的工作实现自动化。

• 第4段：但情况并不这么简单，这背后更复杂的情况也有转折。

• 第5段：机器在消灭人类用武之地的同时，新的需要人机结合的工作也诞生了，但这点往往被人们忽略。

• 第6段：案例1：人类学家在一家公司发现软件自动化可以取代劳动力，但它也会产生新的人机互补。

• 第7段：案例2：另一位人类学家在教育行业也看到了同样的情况：人类教师正利用这些数字工具提高效率。

• 第8段：但这两个案例不能代表所有行业。而且人们也不知道新的人机合作的工作类型的数量是否足以弥补人类缺失的工作机会。再者人们并不是很看得起这类工作。

• 第9段：尽管如此，人类学家的发现也不该被忽视。原因1：当务之急是政策制定者要全面地收集数据。现实情况：劳工局用传统方式收集信息所以数据薄弱，而科技公司在这方面也半斤八两。

• 第10段：原因2：即使有人真的统计出准确数据，还要交给特朗普过目。特朗普想恢复旧式美国就业，又希望实现美国优先，但美国优先必然伴随自动化趋势，这两个理想是矛盾的。所以自动化是大势所趋，无法改变。

• 第11段：原因3：迫切需要开展政策辩论和改革劳动力培训。

• 第12：新型的社会保障、健康和养老体系是容纳临时工作者的必要举措。科技行业也应当介入来促进人机合作。而特朗普也希望他们能出力（来恢复旧式美国就业）。

• 第13段：硅谷（科技公司）也应当挺身而出帮助促进人机合作，否则他们将成为众矢之的。

全文逻辑

主题：机器人时代来临，人类就业将会怎样？（1）

机器人的确在剥夺人类就业机会，这令人恐惧。（2-3）

但人类学家研究发现机器人在取代人们一些工作同时也造就了人机互补的工作类型（4-7）

虽然目前数据不够充分，这这个发现不应该被忽略。原因有三重。（8-11）

必要举措：建立新型的社会保障、健康和养老体系以容纳临时工作者。硅谷应该站出来促进人机合作。（12-13）

作者态度

作者的政见与特朗普相反，他是希望人机合作的。特朗普希望硅谷站在他这边，而作者希望硅谷也促进人机合作。

写作风格

运用了很多比喻。逻辑清晰，先设问，给出人们意料之中的、普遍认可的回答，再进行转折，最后表明自己的期待。